World Cafe Sense Of Place Visit To Nashville Kicks Off With The Indie-Pop of Leagues

Our guest today Leagues is a perfect place to start our week-long visit to Music City because they encapsulate the change that is going on in Nashville. They are a new rock band formed by an amazing singer Thad Cockrell who was so disenchanted with his alternative country career that he was going to leave the music business before Leagues happened. He posed his idea to create a new band that would actually make audiences move and be happy to guitarist Tyler Burkham and drummer Jeremy Lutito and slowly good things indeed happened. Make that great things, leading to their debut album You Belong Here. Sure, songs remain king in Nashville and so does country music. But East Nashville is brimming with creativity and we’ll spend the week exploring old and new Nashville for Sense of Place: Nashville.

Due largely to the band’s approach to songwriting and overall idea of musicianship. Cockrell, Burkum, and Lutito are inspired by songs rather than artists. Thus, their own songs are crafted with that same intention: to inspire others in a unique way. The band’s self-titled EP, released in 2011, garnered much praise and recognition for this philosophy. Leagues’ debut full-length album You Belong Here, set to be released January 29, hopes to have a similar reaction.
Leagues has opened for bands such as The Fray and has toured with musicians like Mat Kearney and Matthew Perryman Jones. In advance of its release, the official music video of You Belong Here’s first single, “Spotlight,” recently premiered on MTV Hive. In addition, Leagues will be performing a special CD release show on February 1 at Nashville’s Mercy Lounge. The band is also planning to launch a national tour this winter.